Travel Disaster Stories!

Ok, I am usually organised and have all the documents sitting ready to roll but this time I have been lackadaisical and have misplaced my passport and I am going on Saturday. I used it for id not Thursday past but the one before. I really don't know where it could be, so to cheer me can everyone post their worst travel disaster. :colondollar:

Another story to start with - my brother was heading to the airport for a skiing trip and forgot his passport and had to go home to grab it.

Reply 1

username1221160

Not long after 9/11, we missed a plane because my grandmother refused to surrender the 2 knives and 3 pairs of nail scissors she was carrying in her hand luggage.

Reply 2

may348

The last flight I was on was really unpleasant. Twenty minutes in an elderly passenger had a stroke and we had to land so he could get off. I didn't mind at first (obv. I felt bad for the guy) but then we were grounded for an hour. On top of that, the plane was really hot and there was an annoying (but kind of endearing tbh) couple next to me who insisted on chatting with me the whole flight.

Also when I was 11 our car broke down on the way to summer camp. Long story short I arrived at camp several hours late in a tow truck. :lol:

(edited 10 years ago)

Reply 3

MickIAC

Two really bad ones for me:

First I was going to Florida and our flight path was Glasgow>London>Orlando. BA ****ed up our transfer and we had 20 mins to get back through security and checking in to go to Orlando. That obviously that didn't happen and we were put on a NY flight, arrived at half 2 in the morning, put in a freezing cold room with like cockroaches and stuff and didn't even get to see anywhere in New York. Finally got a flight to Orlando, a day late. Also on the way back, we couldn't land because a baby wouldn't put his seatbelt on and kept screaming.

Also, went on a lads holiday to Zante and on the way back (on my last night I got proper wasted cos I knew it was my last day and spewed everywhere and couldn't eat the next day). We arrived at the airport, it was roasting, and I felt like ****. Our flight got delayed for 3 hours and then we found out that it was delayed until the next day (although we got another night out, I felt like I was going to spew). I had 45 minutes sleep in an amazing bed and then the plane was delayed another hour. Then the journey seemed like forever and I couldn't sleep. So yeah, bad experiences.

Reply 4

harvie_316

took home a ladyboy in thailand

#yolo

Reply 5

FactotumOnRye

Met my travel romance after a few weeks of not seeing her on a beach in Thailand. We thought we would be all free-spirited and romantic and walk into the sea in the middle of the night. Found a secluded spot, left all our clothes and valuables on the shore. When walking backing from the sea, we realised we had not walked a perfectly straight line so ended up not having a clue where we had left our stuff - and the strip was pretty long. It started to become a bit lighter, and when we rediscovered our stuff, someone had taken the equivalent of $100 from her, and an iPhone, credit card and all spare cash from me.

Wasn't all that romantic in the end.

Chin up!

Reply 6

rachel.h

Original post by Quantex

Not long after 9/11, we missed a plane because my grandmother refused to surrender the 2 knives and 3 pairs of nail scissors she was carrying in her hand luggage.

Mine is also just after 9/11 -

My mum decided to put some massive kitchen scissors in the front pocket of my bag unbeknownst to me :angry:

I was so shocked when security took them out it probably looked like I was putting it on. We got a fair bit of questioning after that, they thought she was using me to smuggle weapons around or something. Thanks mum.

(Also, have no idea what she wanted them for - why the **** would she need scissors in a taxi to the airport.)

Reply 7

Clip

My uncle is a corporate travel agent in the States, and did a lot of work and travel to Central America. He also happens to share a name with a notorious drug baron. My uncle travelled to Australia for the first time, where they promptly arrested and detained him thinking that they had made the bust of the century. It didn't help that his passport was full of stamps from Honduras, Columbia, Nicaragua etc. It took him two days to get out of Sydney Airport.

Reply 8

Left Hand Drive

One my girlfriends and My first holiday together we went to Salou, so when we arrived at the hotel the rooms were not ready so we thought we change into more comfy clothes and go explore a wee bit. So I got changed and waited on her only for her to come out greeting! She had picked someone elses suitcase up at the airport!! Needless to say she has always triple checked now!

I phoned Thomas cook and they were brilliant and sorted it in like 20 minutes.

Reply 9

jelly1000

Left my bag in a New York cafe- when I realised what I'd done I went back to see if it was still there but it was too late, it had gone. Had a purse full of cash, my glasses, mp3 player and digital camera plus a notebook I'd written how poncy & stuck up passengers in first class must be.

As I didn't have said MP3 player to listen to on the flight back I decided to read a book I'd bought in New York to keep me entertained. However I got very travel sick to the point where the member of staff at Heathrow who had come to meet the plane with a wheelchair thought it was for me.

Travel on the way back from Portugal was horrendous- there was so much turbulence I had to hold onto the toilet roll to be able to use the toilet, even then I couldn't stay seated on it, it was like those videos of astronauts in space. It was also impossible to stay seated in the normal seats and every so often it felt like I'd gone on a rollercoaster.

Got food poisoning in Prague, somehow made it back to the UK before I got really ill.

Was on the line worst affected by the powercut on the London tube network back in 2003. Had to wait on a tube in a tunnel for a couple of hours until we were dumped at Westminster. Stood outside Westminster Abbey for a good while longer until my friends Dad could come and rescue us because there was no room on the buses.